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Thursday, November 1, 2018

Give more funds for border security, says Sabah think tank



KOTA KINABALU: Sabah government think tank, Institute for Development Studies (IDS), has urged the federal government to channel more funds to boost security in Sabah under Budget 2019.
IDS acting CEO Mazliwati Malek Chua also suggested that the federal government save money by slimming down the bloated civil service and reducing incidences of agencies dong the same work.
Mazliwati Malek Chua calls for more funds to enhance security and intelligence networks in Sabah.
Chua told FMT the international borders in Sabah needed extra attention as they were “very long”.
“They should guard our borders and keep us save by giving us more coastal guards and trained security personnel,” she said.
She said the previous government had toyed with the idea of letting civilians under Rela help the Eastern Sabah Security Command or Esscom.
However, she did not believe this was a good idea even though Rela volunteers know how to handle weapons.
“The fact remains that in order to properly secure our borders and safeguard our security, we need trained security enforcement personnel.
“We should not put civilians in Esscom and risk their lives. These Rela members, some of them, do not know what they are getting themselves into.”
She pointed out that the security problem in Sabah was not limited to securing the borders and stopping criminals from entering the state as many such criminals were already here, living among the locals.
For this reason, she said, other than increasing or deploying existing assets to Sabah’s borders, the federal government should redeploy its intelligence muscle and send more of its paid informers to the state.
“Intelligence is key here because Sabah is big, and an efficient security intelligence network could keep the police informed of the goings-on within our borders,” she said.
Mazliwati believes the federal budget to be tabled tomorrow will be “brutal” as the administration has said that money is tight.
On top of new taxes set to be introduced, Mazliwati said the federal government should seriously consider reducing the bloated civil service.
Currently, she said, there were too many agencies and departments with the same functions, such as those dealing with agriculture and fisheries.
In Sabah, she said, there was already a ministry charged with managing agriculture and the food industry.
“The ministry’s coverage is huge. At the same time, we have several agencies and departments under the federal government basically doing the same thing as the Sabah ministry’s departments and agencies.
“What is the point of having these federal agencies in Sabah? This is why there are too many people in the civil sector sitting around doing nothing.
“We don’t want to be like Greece where too much money is spent to keep people employed in the civil sector for nothing,” she said.
She added that with fewer agencies to go to, the government’s goal of reducing red tape could also be met as customers would not have to go through all kinds of procedures to get something done. -FMT

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